Sports fans will know what The Whiteboard is. It is a daily basketball newsletter under The Step Back. What is going on with The Golden State Warriors in Game 3? Their fans have seen that they’ve struggled a lot in the game. They have been outscored by a total of nine points across the series but struggled a lot in the fourth quarter. In fact, they have looked very inefficient and clumsy in the court. Hence, they are going to make some major adjustments before game 4. The Whiteboard has given us some information about this.
Follow this piece if you want to know more about the game and the major changes in it.
Table of Contents
About Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole
The Whiteboard stated Thompson’s performance was much better in Game 3 but for the series. However, Poole and he have still combined for 15 total assists to 12 turnovers and just 29 points per game on a 46.8 effective field goal percentage.
This Celtics defense is the best and properly paired defense in the Warriors. Besides, Klay and Poole are defended by Jaylen Brown and Derrick White who are excellent perimeter defenders. Furthermore, the Warriors need to find some creative ways in which they can lift the ball in Poole’s hands. We know that they need to give him chances to create.
Poole had to give all his two-point baskets with assistance from his teammates in the first two games of the series. He had finished Game 3 with just two.
Solving the Celtics Issue
Boston’s offense has not been very complex. However, they are very accurate in their offense and they are a step ahead of the Warrior’s defense at each step. Their dribble penetration has set up a lot of actions. And the people see how Boston has shown their dominating qualities in each step.
In the NBA Finals, the Celtics made 51.7 drives per game. Furthermore, we see that it is six more than during the regular season. Furthermore, we hear some details from The Whiteboard. Their shooting percentage on those drives was not that great. However, we read that it has been strong and they’ve been good at turning those drives into open shots.
In the NBA Finals, the Celtics have averaged 6.7 assists per game off drives. They have recorded an assist on 12.9 percent of their assists. Both of these led the league during the regular season. And as the Warriors have struggled to catch up to these initial breakdowns, rotating out to suddenly open perimeter shooters, the Celtics have been able to slip behind the defense for a ton of offensive rebounds. We see that The Celtics have missed 64 3-pointers across the first three games. However, they took an offensive on 12 of them.
Dan Devine has explained this dynamic in his game recap at The Ringer to the people. Furthermore, he did that with some excellent videos. You can watch it if you want to know more.
According to The Whiteboard, The solution to this is difficult because the Warrior’s defense has to be better at every step. Besides, they must have dribble penetration, find free rebounders and recover to shooters when the shot is up.
The Warriors Have To Play Efficiently In The 4th Quarter
In these three games, the Warriors were defeated by 59.5 points per 100 possessions in the fourth quarter. That number is increased in shooting on open and wide-open 3-pointers — 10-of-24 on all three fourth quarters for the Celtics, 4-of-18 for the Warriors. The Whiteboard says that Progression to those shooting numbers will help them to balance things out. However, if they fail to make the adjustments above magnified in the fourth quarter, their chances to win the game will shrink.
Ending Note
The Whiteboard tells us that the warriors have to make these changes as soon as possible. Without it, they will stand no chance of winning the fourth quarter.
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